Bio Sketches 2004

Rolfs Piano Series
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Biographical Sketches
2004
Winter-Weekend
International Classical PianoFest

RAYMOND JACKSON
January 10, 2004

Raymond Jackson, Professor of Music at Howard University, Washington, DC has taught and served in administrative capacities since 1977. A life dedicated to music began in Providence, RI where he received piano instruction from age five. Early mastery of the keyboard expanded six years later when study of the organ, along with the piano, helped inspire a major career as concert pianist and recording artist; scholar, researcher, teacher and coach; church organist and choral conductor; lecturer, clinician and adjudicator. From this genesis his talents, performances and achievements have been recognized, sought after, and heralded in many parts of the western world.

Advanced musical studies began at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, where he received the Bachelor of Music degree in piano. He has the distinction of being the first in Conservatory history to simultaneously graduate first in his class, summa cum laude, receive the coveted George W. Chadwick Medal, and perform as graduation soloist with the Conservatory Orchestra.

At the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City he earned Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees. His doctoral dissertation, The Piano Music of Twentieth Century Black Americans, and the recent 3‑volume compilation, Black Composers: Their Lives and Piano Music, are important resources for the keyboard works of African‑American composers. Through much of the Western world his pioneering efforts have introduced these relatively unknown composers and works in recitals, lecture recitals and recordings.

Dr. Jackson has been recipient of numerous awards, as well as top prizes in national and international piano competitions. These include the Marguerite Long International Piano Concour in Paris, the Tenth International Piano Competition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the National Association of Negro Musicians Piano Competition (Champaign, IL) and the J.U.G.G., Inc. New York Town Hall Debut Award. Such achievements have earned for him the distinction of being the first African‑American, first musician and youngest person from his native state elected into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. He is also an honorary member of Providence’s prestigious Chopin and Chaminade Clubs.

With symphony orchestras and as solo artist in major concert halls of the United States, Europe and South America, as well as performances in the West Indies, he continues to receive ovations and the acclaim of audiences and critics. As an artist‑teacher he has received the Howard University Faculty Excellence Award and has, in addition, formed The Jackson Foundation and the Raymond Jackson Scholarship and Mentoring Program for Gifted Pre‑College African‑American Pianists. His pedagogical skills have trained and guided numerous young pianists to be accepted into major music schools and become prizewinners in local and national piano competitions.

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NADEJDA VLAEVA
January 24, 2004

Nadejda Vlaeva was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, and started playing the piano at the age of five. While she was still a child she was enrolled in Sofia’s Pipkov School of Music in the class of Antoanetta Arsova, and later in the Sofia Academy of Music with Anton Dikov. After graduating in 1997, she moved to The Netherlands, where she embarked on higher studies at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam with Jan Wijn. Meanwhile, she worked in master classes with a variety of international teachers, including Lazar Berman, Gyorgy Sandor and Gyorgy Sebok. In 1999, she moved to New York for a brief period of study with American concert pianist Ruth Laredo. She currently resides in New York.

Ms. Vlaeva has performed in concerts internationally, giving solo recitals in Bulgaria, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, The Netherlands, England, Canada and the United States. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, The Capella Istropolitana in Slovakia and with various orchestras in Bulgaria and Holland. In several of these countries she has also appeared with notable success on radio and television. Her playing has been acclaimed wherever she has appeared. Lazar Berman called her talent “God‑given”, Maestro Hans Graf of the Calgary Philharmonic observed that “her musicality and the depth of her interpretation amazed me. Her strong and healthy technique was both natural and flawless.” Arnold Steinhardt, leader of the Guarneri String Quartet, eulogized her as “one of those people of extraordinary ability whom we hope for but rarely see.”

Included among her major awards are the First Prize at the Liszt competition in Lucca, Italy, 1989; the Third Prize at the International Liszt Competition in Budapest, 1996; and the Yamaha Award for the best interpretation of Brahms, in Weimar, 1998. She has also worked under the close supervision of composer Dimiter Christov, presenting his piano music on radio and CD. Her second CD, piano music of Liszt, was released in 2001 on the Musicians Showcase Label, MS‑1063. This recording has been awarded the International Grand Prix “Liszt” du Disque 2002. In 2002 she recorded soundtrack music for the documentary film “In Search of Cezanne” produced by Academy Award winner Allan Miller. Ms. Vlaeva gave her New York debut in the Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in the year 2000.

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MIRIAN CONTI
February 7, 2004

Argentine pianist Mirian Conti enjoys a growing reputation as a musician whose performances combine technical brilliance with striking originality and artistic insight. Stylistically assured in a wide range of repertoire, Ms. Conti is considered a leading exponent of Spanish music; and her rare ability to communicate passion and excitement when playing contemporary scores has won the admiration of leading American and Argentine composers such as Bowles, Broeders, Cohn, Diamond, Gould, Lees, Persichetti, Ramey, White, Zyman, etc. She premiered Lalo Schifrin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in Los Angeles. She was invited by the French Cultural Center in Tangier, Morocco to perform a concert in homage to Paul Bowles.

Mirian Conti has made solo, orchestral and chamber appearances at Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (debut in 1987 as a winner of Artists International Auditions) in New York, and has performed at numerous concert halls throughout the world, including the Teatro Colon in her native Argentina. In 1989, she was awarded a special prize as the best performer of Spanish music in the International Pilar Bayona Piano Competition in Zaragoza, Spain. In 1995, she was awarded the Andres Segovia-Jose Miguel Ruiz Morales Prize as the best performer of Spanish music in the XXXVIII Santiago de Compostela International University Course on Spanish Music, Spain. She has appeared with the Jupiter Symphony and the American Composers Orchestra in New York City and most recently with the Queens Symphony Orchestra. She was invited to perform in the prestigious Beethoven‑Liszt Concerts Cycle organized by the Juan March Foundation in Spain.

Conti has recorded for the Antilles New Direction Label of Island Records several compact discs featuring works by Mexican, Argentine, and Spanish composers. Her CD on the Koch International Classics label features rarely performed piano works by Joaquin Turina and has been enthusiastically received by critics. A recording featuring American solo piano music has been released on the Albany label. Her most recent CD release, on the Towerhill label, features piano music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann. She has also recently recorded with the Latvia Symphony Orchestra in Riga.

Her lecture‑recitals and master classes on the music of Spain were presented at Oberlin College, Manhattan School of Music, William Paterson College and at the National Conservatory Lopez Buchardo in Buenos Aires and the Simar Festival in Cali, Colombia.

Ms. Conti studied with Genny Blech in Buenos Aires and continued her musical education in New York at The Juilliard School where her teachers were Richard Fabre and Josef Raieff. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as an award winning William Petscheck Scholarship student. She has also studied with Edmundo Lopez and Freda Rosenblatt in New York.

Ms. Conti was the Talent Coordinator for the 1998 AT&T Latino Arts Festival in Queens, NY. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of the “I Certamen Musical Rioplatense”, a competition for musicians of Argentina and Uruguay which took place in November 1999 in Buenos Aires. In recognition of her extraordinary talent, a scholarship honoring Mirian Conti has been established at The Juilliard School by the Edwin Bachman Estate.

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TIAN YING
February 21, 2004

Tian Ying is Winner of many prestigious awards including high honors at the Eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1989, and has become well known for his eloquent, poetic, dramatically intense performances. With his reputation for unusually searching and profound interpretations played at the highest level of virtuoso accomplishment, Tian Ying has earned a distinguished place among today’s most exciting, original and accomplished artists of his generation.

Tian Ying has appeared widely in concerto engagements with orchestras throughout the United States, Asia and South America. His recitals have taken him across North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The 2000-2001 season was remarkable for three separate trips to China—two to Shanghai and one to Beijing—after an absence of 16 years from the Chinese concert stage.

Mr. Ying was born in Shanghai and made his first public appearance with the Shanghai Symphony at age 10. He was educated in the United States attending the Interlochen Arts Academy and the New England Conservatory of Music where he was a Charlotte F. Rabb Presidential Scholar and a student of the celebrated pianist Russell Sherman.

Tian Ying served as the Visiting Lecturer/Artist in Piano at the University of Louisville School of Music before joining the faculty of the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida in 2002.

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